This year, efforts to address the climate crisis will center on the Brazilian city of Belém in the Amazon region. In November 2025, the city will host the most important United Nations climate conference (COP30).
According to a report on the United Nations website, there will still be many opportunities over the years to make significant progress on various climate-related issues, from the staggering levels of plastic pollution to financing the transition to a cleaner global economy.
The United Nations slogan "Keep 1.5 degrees alive" has been a rallying cry for the UN for several years, referring to the goal of ensuring that the average global temperature does not rise beyond 1.5 degrees. The scientific consensus is that inaction will have catastrophic consequences, not least for so-called "frontline states," such as developing island nations that could disappear beneath the ocean as sea levels rise.
At the COP30 scheduled to be held from November 10 to 21, 2025, mitigation (in other words, actions and policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming) is likely to be a key focus.
The countries of the world will announce enhanced and more ambitious commitments to reduce greenhouse gases. The member states signed this agreement in 2015 during the Paris Climate Conference, acknowledging that the current pledges are completely insufficient in lowering temperatures.
Nature conservation
Holding the COP30 in the Amazon rainforest region of Brazil is symbolically significant. It transports us to the nascent stages of global environmental conservation, marked by the historic "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, which resulted in the drafting of three environmental treaties addressing climate change, biodiversity, and desertification.
The site also highlights the role that nature should play in the climate crisis. Rainforests are a massive "carbon sink," a system that absorbs and stores carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases, and prevents it from entering the atmosphere.
Unfortunately, rainforests and other "nature-based solutions" face threats from human development, such as illegal logging that has destroyed vast areas of the region.
Who pays the cost?
Funding has long been a contentious issue in international climate negotiations. Developing countries believe that wealthy nations should contribute more to projects and initiatives that will enable them to move away from fossil fuels and provide their economies with energy from clean sources.
The opposition from wealthy countries is that rapidly growing economies like China, which is now the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, should also pay their share.
A relative breakthrough occurred at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, with the adoption of an agreement to triple the amount of climate financing provided to developing countries to $300 billion annually by 2035.
The agreement represents a clear step forward, but the final amount is much less than the $1.3 trillion that climate experts say these countries need to adapt to climate change.
Further progress on financing is expected in 2025, at a summit held in Spain at the end of June.
Only once every ten years do development finance conferences take place, and next year's edition presents a chance to drastically alter the global financial system. Environmental and climate concerns will be raised, and potential solutions such as green taxes, carbon pricing, and subsidies will be on the table.
Enacting laws
In December, the International Court of Justice focused on climate change, marking a historic moment in the legal obligations of states under international law.
Vanuatu, an island nation in the Pacific particularly vulnerable to the crisis, requested an advisory opinion from the court to clarify the obligations of states regarding climate change and inform any future legal actions.
Over the course of two weeks, 96 countries and 11 regional organizations participated in public hearings before the court, including Vanuatu and a group of other Pacific island nations, as well as major economies such as China and the United States.
The International Court of Justice will deliberate for several months before issuing its ruling on this matter.
This opinion won't be legally binding, but it should influence future international climate law.
Plastic pollution
The UN talks on controlling the global pandemic of plastic pollution are nearing an agreement during the negotiations in Busan, South Korea.
The November 2024 talks, marking the fifth round of negotiations after the 2022 United Nations Environment Assembly decision calling for a legally binding international instrument on plastic pollution, including the marine environment, made significant progress.
Three crucial areas require consensus: plastic products, including the chemical issue; sustainable production and consumption; and financing.
Before the session resumes, member states must find political solutions to their disputes and reach a final agreement that addresses the full life cycle of plastics and satisfies the growing global momentum to end plastic pollution.
